The Life of a Truck Driver: The Reality Beyond the Joy

Cab happy is an expression I've heard. And I take it to mean that truckers enjoy their occupation- often rather more than is healthy.

The joy is in controlling a large vehicle – a difficult job well done if you like and the slightly hypnotic effect of the scenery flying past for hours and indeed days on end. A robot does the driving, and perhaps worryingly, the mind is mostly elsewhere. It's also a bit antisocial and tends to suit those who prefer their own company. It can be lonely too – it's possible to be away for days and weeks, you can literally not speak for days on end if driving abroad.

Regulations and Reality

That depends on what you consider a lengthy amount of time. If you mean the number of hours per day DOT regulates, then drivers must log and be off-duty for 10 consecutive hours every 24 hours. A driver cannot drive more than 11 hours between those 10-hour breaks and drivers must take a 30-minute break – where he or she is off-duty and not working - before reaching 8 hours on the clock. The amount of time from when they start their day to the time they shut down at the end of the workday cannot exceed 14 hours - even if they only drove an hour. They can be on duty no more than 70 hours in an eight consecutive day span. These rules can be temporarily relaxed by the DOT too, to provide immediate relief to an impacted region following a widespread disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina level of damage.

If a driver works within those constraints and budgets their time so that the 70-hour clock is not exhausted in 8 days, they can work as many consecutive days as they like. That is most often an individual decision or something agreed upon between the driver and the employer. But every company must abide by those hours of service laws for over-the-road drivers. Ignoring them invites serious legal and civil consequences.

Painstaking Driving and Pressure

What is it like to drive 11 hours a day? Consider what it would be like to drive in a blinding rainstorm or snowstorm, where you had to be at your most alert and careful level of driving, always on the lookout for disaster, feeling as if driving on the edge of your seat. That's what it's like driving down the road in a 35,000-pound rig loaded with 45,000 pounds of cargo and a deadline. Professional drivers have to be aware of everything and everyone around them, especially car drivers who will do anything behind the wheel, assuming that an 80,000-pound rig can stop in as little space as a 3,000-pound car needs. They constantly compensate for the foolish mistakes of others or changes in weather conditions. They often deal with rude uncooperative security guards, dock workers, and depot employees. They are expected to respond with a smile. Ever heard of blind side backing? It's when you have to back a 53-foot trailer into a dock door, often with trailers parked on either side, and you cannot see where you're going because your mirrors don't show the dock door. Then the driver needs to plan when and where to end the day.

Truck stops fill up fast. When and where should you stop in order to be able to find a place to shut down for the night, where you can go to the bathroom, get a shower, and maybe a hot meal? At the end of it all, you crawl up into your bunk behind the driver's seat and sleep so you can get up and do it again tomorrow. That's kind of what it's like. Some folks love it and love the road. Others can't handle the pressure, the skill required, and the hard work a professional truck driver does every day. It's a tough way to make a life and a living. So next time you're tempted to cuss one for slowing you down, remember that everything you own traveled on a truck at some point. Instead of cussing, maybe thank them.